Infinite-randomness critical point in the two-dimensional disordered contact process

TL;DR

This study uses large-scale simulations to demonstrate that the two-dimensional disordered contact process exhibits an infinite-randomness critical point with universal, activated dynamical scaling, extending understanding of phase transitions with quenched disorder.

Contribution

It provides the first large-scale numerical evidence that the 2D disordered contact process has an infinite-randomness critical point with universal exponents.

Findings

Evidence for an infinite-randomness critical point with activated scaling.

Universal critical exponents independent of disorder strength.

Power-law dynamical scaling in the Griffiths region.

Abstract

We study the nonequilibrium phase transition in the two-dimensional contact process on a randomly diluted lattice by means of large-scale Monte-Carlo simulations for times up to $10^{10}$ and system sizes up to $8000 \times 8000$ sites. Our data provide strong evidence for the transition being controlled by an exotic infinite-randomness critical point with activated (exponential) dynamical scaling. We calculate the critical exponents of the transition and find them to be universal, i.e., independent of disorder strength. The Griffiths region between the clean and the dirty critical points exhibits power-law dynamical scaling with continuously varying exponents. We discuss the generality of our findings and relate them to a broader theory of rare region effects at phase transitions with quenched disorder. Our results are of importance beyond absorbing state transitions because according to a strong-disorder renormalization group analysis, our transition belongs to the universality class of the two-dimensional random transverse-field Ising model.